Reflective Piece

"The Choice" - Annie Wang (1T8) Author's Note: When I first submitted this piece to ArtBeat, I asked the ArtBeat Team to feature it anonymously. As a first-year student entering this new world of medicine -- a world that perhaps had unwritten rules and unspoken codes I didn't yet know about -- I was afraid … Continue reading “The Choice” – Annie Wang (1T8)

Author’s Note: This piece was inspired by the most recent reading “It May Be Her Eggs But It’s My Blood”: Surrogates and Everyday Forms of Kinship in India by the Social Studies of Medicine Reading Group. I was interested in the fluid meanings of “motherhood”, the work that goes into human kinship, and how this all ties into … Continue reading This Month’s Student Submission: “Motherhood” (Paige Zhang, 1T7)

They say smell is the sense most linked to memory But I doubt this stench of formaldehyde will help me to remember The path of cranial nerve III, or the branches of the celiac artery The origin and insertion of the flexor digiti minimi? I cannot recall… In our visual world, smell the neglected sense … Continue reading A Feast for the Senses (Ben Chin-Yee)

Moist eyes on murky silt of morning dews Scant layer of oxygen in the atmosphere Incandescent light, dim and unclear. And I Gasp for respite, right now. Right here. “Eternity is long enough for a joke.” So mom, I will Come back by breakfast, I hope it’s bacons. As I look down, soft concrete bed … Continue reading MSIGECAPS … and I (Justin Oh)

ASCM, mid-October. A new medical student nervously steps into the exam room, mulling over OPQRST, trying to remember the order to ask questions, and breathes a sigh of relief when he realizes that his self-made “cheat sheet” will help him through everything he has to ask. The patient, Mrs. M, sits in the chair. She … Continue reading Myasthenia Gravis (Narayan Chattergoon)

I sat in the doctor’s office, rummaging through my oversized, brown bag. The nursing student shot a wary look at me, remarking, “You seem very stressed”. I tried to brush it off, laughing, but then proceeded to drop the contents of my bag all over the floor. Who was I trying to fool? Ever since … Continue reading There’s no prescription for that…. (Lisa Saldanha)